Eternal Midnight
by Jack of the Pelt
Summary: A young man named Ryu discovers he has an incredible gift - or perhaps a curse - and must use it to save not just the world, but the entire universe...


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Author's Notes: This is both my first Breath Of Fire fic and my first epic; I really don't know how many chapters this will be, but you can be sure it'll be a lot! Thanks go to Rando for proofreading. Hope you enjoy it, so please read and review.

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Disclaimer: Breath Of Fire belongs to Capcom, and is used without permission.

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Eternal Midnight

By Jack of the Pelt

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Prologue

The Beginning Of The End

All stories start somewhere, and this one is no exception. But where to begin? Ah, yes perhaps _the_ beginning would be best…

In the beginning it was said, there was nothing. But even there was nothing there, that would have indicated that there was _something_ there that had occupied the space where the nothing was -

Oh, sorry, was I rambling? Your father says I'm terrible for that. Why, he's just like your grandfather; I remember when I first -

I'm doing it again, aren't I? Sorry, Let me continue…

Where were we? Ah yes: Then out of nothing, the Celestial Dragon appeared - why? I don't know why! He was a god, the things they do seldom make sense. Anyway, when he emerged the Celestial Dragon automatically noticed one thing: The entire universe was empty. So he started a great undertaking: To fill the whole universe with life.

Slowly he created the stars, the planets and all the galaxies. He placed life on as many worlds as he could, and watched with pride as they grew and flourished. But after this, he was tired, and so he settled into a long and deep sleep in place that no one could find.

But without his watchful eye, the universe started to decay, and corruption and violence sprang up like a disease all over the Celestial Dragon's creation. On one planet - the name of that world and it's people are now lost to time, unfortunately, so let's just call them "The People" - the occupants became arrogant and greedy, they no longer believed that "god" existed - or had ever existed. And in their hubris, they decided it was their right to do anything they pleased, which was to be their downfall, and so they themselves started their own great task; to plunder the universe of all it's resources. They achieved this, but soon found themselves in a quandary, as many of their species were starving or living in cramped conditions - They would not last long. And in order to find more power, they made a terrible mistake. They created a doorway into a new universe. And something was waiting on the other side of this portal.

The creatures that poured out of the doorway in their millions and consumed all in their path. The people tried to fight back, but no weapon ever made in this universe would ever harm them. They were creatures not of darkness - that would mean they had something in common with our own universe - no, this monsters were made of _anti-light_. You see, darkness is not the opposite of light, merely it's absence. The monsters were completely inimical to our own universe.

The People, terrified as the anti-creatures - or Daemons, as they were now called - devoured every world they came across, called out to the god they had forsaken, for salvation.

Their prayers didn't go unanswered. The Celestial Dragon, enraged by what had happened, awoke with a roar that made the Daemons quake in sheer terror, and he hunted down every last Daemon in his beloved universe. But it wasn't enough, and more and more flooded out of the portal.

So in order to defeat the monsters, he took the fight to them and went though the doorway into their anti-universe. But there he discovered a creature that was just as powerful as himself: Azmoth, the king of all Daemons. The Celestial Dragon fought a long and brutal battle with the Daemon king, but he finally emerged triumphant from the portal after destroying his foe, sealing it shut behind him. Unfortunately, he had been grievously injured during his battle and he was exhausted, but he had had one last thing to do.

The universe had been reduced to a ruin; entire planets, civilisations and species had been annihilated during the invasion, and only a few scattered survivors remained.

Gathering them up, the Celestial Dragon placed them on the few worlds that still remained in the universe that could still support life. He knew he would soon be dead, so imbued a tiny part of his own power on those that had remained faithful to him, creating the Dragon Clan, in order to watch over the survivors so that another disaster could never happen again. It's also said that the Celestial Dragon would be born into a mortal body, and this being would be capable of great good and also, of great evil…

And that, I suppose, is where the story really begins…

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The night was dark and chilly, the moonlight shining down on a red car driving along a deserted road. The young married couple inside the car, Alex and Laura Chesterton, had deciding to take a shortcut instead of the usual busy motorway. It was a decision that would change their lives forever.

Alex yawned. He was tired, but he knew that they were almost home. He spared a glance at his wife, who was sleepy peacefully in the passenger seat of their car. They had been visiting her older sister who lived in the city of Kallan for the day, and now they were on their way home to the town of Milvern.

Laura stirred and opened her eyes, "Mmm, are we home yet?" she muttered. Her eyes widened in surprise. "It's dark!" She turned to her husband. "How long have I been asleep?"

"Only an hour," he told her. "We're almost home, anyway."

"Those nights are really pulling in," she murmured.

Alex smiled, but suddenly felt his eyebrows droop.

"Alex! Look out! There's someone on the road!" Laura cried suddenly.

His eyes snapped open, and he caught sight of the figure standing in the middle of the road. Almost automatically, Alex stamped his foot onto the brakes, the car screeching to halt, stopping mere inches away from the figure, who hadn't even flinched.

The mysterious figure was tall, dressed head to foot in a white cloak, a hood covering it's face. In it's arms it carried something, which it then place on the bonnet of the car. With that it turned around and quickly vanished into the night.

The young couple had just sat in the car, shocked at what had just happened, in complete silence. Laura was the first to speak; "What on Earth just happened?"

Alex turned to her, his heart still beating rapidly. "I - I really don't now, Laura…"

His wife back to look at the object on the bonnet of the car. It looked like a blanket wrapped into a bundle.

She blinked. "It moved."

"What?"

"That bundle just moved!" She undid seat belt and hurried out of the car towards the blanket, picking it up.

"Laura, wait!" he cried, moving out of the car as well. "We don't know what that thing is…" he trailed off as he saw what she was holding.

It was a baby. A healthy looking baby boy.

"Isn't he beautiful?" Laura said softly. The child giggled.

Alex gasped. The child was unlike any he had ever seen before. He had bright blue hair and bright emerald green eyes. He noticed the band around the little boy's right wrist. It simply said 'RYU' and '(2)'.

With smile on her face, Laura hurried back into the car.

Alex would have protested, but he felt that he didn't have any right to. It was as if this child was now theirs no matter what.

He climbed back into car and, after sharing a smile with his beloved wife and their new baby, started the car, continuing their journey home…

To be continued… 


End file.
